USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 19
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THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The Port Jervis fire department was long regarded among the best in the State outside the large cities, and few destructive fires were ever
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allowed to gain much headway. The introduction of the water-works system gave ample hydrant pressure to cope with any conflagration, and the old hand engines were long since abandoned. There are seven differ- ent fire companies with a force of considerably over 200 effective fire fighters. The equipment included a steamer and hook and ladder appa- ratus. P. C. Rutan is chief engineer of the department.
PORT JERVIS FREE LIBRARY.
In 1892 was organized the Port Jervis Free Library, with W. L. Cudde- back, W. H. Nearpass, Maria B. Van Ellen, Minnie C. Brox and E. H. Gordon, trustees. This board has continued in charge of the library until the present time except that, in 1896, Mrs. Brox resigned and was suc- ceeded by Mrs. M. I. Coonrod. In 1901 a gift of $20,000 was received from Mr. Carnegie for the construction of a library building, which was subsequently increased to $30,000, and with this fund a large, handsome, commodious building was constructed on Pike street hill on a site given by Peter E. Farnum. The building is constructed of light colored pressed brick with native blue stone trimmings. It will house 40,000 volumes. The number at present on the shelves is 15,000; added during the year 1907 by purchase, 1,062 ; the number lent for home use during the current year, 33,706. It is rich in encyclopedias and valuable works of reference, including the Congressional Record and Globe, and reports of the depart- ments of the Federal and State governments. The valuable collection of books and documents of the Minisink Valley Historical Society is also housed in this building, a separate room on the second floor having been sct apart for the accommodation thereof. This building contains two spacious, well equipped reading rooms, in which may be found all the leading reviews, magazines, and weekly periodicals, with complete files of many of them handsomely bound and ranged about the walls for con- venient reference.
The present librarian is Miss Elizabeth G. Thorne; assistants, Miss Charlotte Nearpass and Miss Anna G. Wells.
SEWERS.
Port Tervis has an excellent system of public sewers, established in 1891 at a cost of about $85,000, for which the bonds of the village were issued. The original sewer commissioners were Francis Marvin, L. E. Carr,
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George Schoonover, W. A. Drake, M. D. Graham, with Ed. Whritner, clerk. Its establishment has resulted in a lowering of the death rate and a notable diminution in zymotic diseases within the city limits.
CHURCHES.
Port Jervis has eight churches, which in the order of their establish- ment are as follows: The Reformed Church of Deer Park, founded Att- gust 23, 1737, under the name of the Reformed Dutch Church of Machac- kemech; Drew Methodist Episcopal Church and the Baptist Church, both founded in 1838; First Presbyterian, incorporated July 15, 1851 ; Grace Episcopal Church, incorporated September 3, 1853; the Church of the Immaculate Conception, incorporated January 10, 1860; German Lutheran Protestant, Port Jervis, incorporated January 1, 1861; the Second Re- formed Church, whose house of worship on West Main street (in Ger- mantown), was dedicated November 29, 1896, with Rev. David T. Harris as pastor; the Church of Sacred Heart (in Germantown), whose hand- some church edifice of brick was dedicated in November, 1899, with Rev. B. J. Duffy, ordained in Rome, as first pastor.
The colored people also have a church organization known as the Wick- . ham A. U. M. P. Church, in honor of the late Dr. D. T. Wickham, the principal contributor to their church building.
ST. MARY'S HOME.
A religious, educational and charitable institution of great merit and usefulness is St. Mary's Home, founded in 1871 by the late Rev. Father Nelan, its object being to provide a home for orphan children and to train and instruct them for a useful place in society. For over twenty years this institution has been in charge of Sister Theophelia, a woman whose motherly instincts and marked administrative abilities peculiarly fit her for this highly important work.
MINISINK VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
An event of great importance to the residents of this town was the organization of the Minisink Valley Historical Society in 1888. Among the active promoters of this undertaking were Rev. Dr. S. W. Mills,
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Francis Marvin, Dr. John Conkling, O. P. Howell, Dr. Sol Van Etten, C. E. and W. L. Cuddeback. W. II. Nearpass and C. F. Van Inwegen. Its collection of relics and manuscripts is large and of great value to the genealogist and historian. Its library numbers more than 1,500 volumes of books and pamphlets. Its manuscripts exceed 1,000 in number. With the facilities offered by its new home in the Carnegie Library building aud protection and safety provided by its fireproof vaults, it will in time become the repository of all valuable documents and manuscripts in this vicinity.
OLD BURYING GROUND RESTORED.
During the summer of 1907 a notable work was accomplished by the Machackemech Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which. Mrs. Charles F. Van Inwegen is the president, in clearing and beautifying the grounds of the old historic Machackemech cemetery on East Main street next to the Catholic cemetery. Through long neglect the cemetery had fallen into a condition of utter decay and ruin. The ground was covered with a dense growth of weeds, briars and under- brush, and the memorial stones, some of them dating back to a period anterior to the Revolution, were for the most part so weather beaten and mossgrown that their inscription was difficult to decipher, in some cases were totally illegible. All this has been changed, and now this hailowed ground "Where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep" has been re- stored to order and beauty and no longer offends by its wild and neglected appearance .
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
A conspicuous ornament to the public square of the city ( Orange Square ) is the soldiers' monument, erected in 1886 through the liberality and public spirit of Diana Farnum, widow of H. H. Farnum, whose gift of $10.000 defrayed the cost thereof. It commemorates the valor and patriotism of the soldiers from Deer Park who took part in the great struggle for the preservation of the Union in 1861-5. It was unveiled to the public on July 4, 1886, in the presence of a vast multitude of spectators. L. E. Carr. Esq., of Port Jervis, and General Stewart L. Woodford, of Brooklyn, N. Y., were the orators of the occasion. The ceremonies were in charge of Carroll Post. G. A. R., of Port Jervis.
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FLOODS IN PORT JERVIS.
The situation of Port Jervis near the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink Rivers exposes its low-lying parts to occasional overflows of these streams in times of heavy rainfall and more epecially during the break-up of ice at the end of the winter season.
The channel of the Delaware at this place is shallow and obstructed by rapids and islands against which descending masses of ice become lodged, damming back the water and producing what is known as an ice-gorge. Such an event occurred in the latter part of February, 1875, when the channel of the river for several miles in extent was filled with a gigantic accumulation of broken ice. For several weeks the village was threat- ened with inundation and various unsuccessful expedients were resorted to to start the ice moving. The excitement culminated on March 17, when the "gorge" gave way, carrying with it the iron railroad bridge across the Delaware above Sparrowbush, which in descending the stream on top of the moving ice, struck and swept away the Barrett suspension bridge at Port Jervis. For a short time just before the break-up of the "gorge" the lower part of the village as far as the Erie tracks was flooded with water.
On October 10, 1903, a ten-inch rainfall in forty hours caused both rivers to overflow their banks, submerging the low-lying parts of the town. Barrett bridge across the Delaware was again carried away, and five persons who were on it at the time lost their lives.
On March S, 1904, a flood caused by an ice gorge destroyed the iron railroad bridge across the Delaware at this place and the suspension bridge across the Neversink. The lower section of the village was sub- merged to a depth of three feet and the portion across the Erie tracks to a depth of from seven to ten feet.
This succession of disasters emphasized the necessity for protective measures of some kind, and the matter was taken in hand by the village Board of Trade, as a result of whose deliberations a bill was presented and passed at the ensuing session of the Legislature, appropriating the sum of $35,000 for dyking the Delaware at Port Jervis. This money was used to excellent purpose and a substantial dyke was built under the direction of the State engineer, extending from the upper part of Germantown to Barrett bridge. To aftord the needed protection, however, this work
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should be extended down the river bank to Laurel Grove cemetery. Bills for the necessary appropriation have been introduced at the successive sessions of the Legislature, but for various reasons have failed to pass. . 1 more fortunate issue is expected from the one introduced by Senator Taylor at the present session. Another State appropriation of $10,000 was spent in strengthening and clearing the channel of the Clove Brook at Tri-States and a pumping station has been established at the foot of Wagner Place, by means of which accumulated surface water is drained off in times of flood. An effort is also being made through Representa- tive Thos. W. Bradley to secure the aid of the Federal government in clearing and deepening the channel of the Delaware and removing ob- structions from Stornt Island, about a mile below the city.
CANAL ABANDONED.
The canal of the Delaware & Hudson Company was abandoned in 1878. Samuel D. Coykendall, of Kingston, purchased the right of way, and sold it to the Pennsylvania Coal Company, by whom a coal carrying road from the anthracite field to tide water along the old canal route was projected. The enterprise was defeated by the purchase by the Erie Railroad Com- pany of the stock of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, which carried with it ownership and control of the old right of way and blocked threatened competition in the carriage of coal to tide water.
ERIE CHANGES.
In the spring of 1890 the Erie removed its passenger station from the foot of Pike street to the Brown building in Jersey avenne, near its junc- tion with Fowler street. This building was remodeled and enlarged and made over into one of the finest depots along the line of the Erie road. It was destroyed by fire on Christmas night of the same year and the pres- ent handsome structure erected on its site.
On Easter Sunday, 1905, the company transferred the headquarters of the principal Delaware division official from Port Jervis to Susquehanna. This involved the removal of thirty officials and assistants, including the superintendent, trainmaster, division engineer, division plumber, and division carpenter.
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GOOD ROADS.
This section will benefit by the good roads movement lately adopted by the State, and Port Jervis may naturally expect considerable increase of trade and perhaps of population from the three State roads now in process of construction which converge in this city. One of these begins in Middletown, passes through Wawayanda and Greenville and comes out upon the road leading from Tappentown to Tri States. Another starts from Middletown and passes through Otisville and Cuddebackville, taking at the last named place the old road pronounced by the State in- spector to be one of the finest in the State. A third leads from the Sulli- van County line at Rio on the west to Port Jervis.
CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
The year just passed has witnessed the organization of a City Improve- ment Association composed of ladies, the object of which is sufficiently indicated by its name. It has an active corps of officers and members ani- mated by a praiseworthy spirit of civic pride. Mrs. Maria B. Van Etten is the president.
PLACES OF SPECIAL NOTE.
Tri-States Rock, situated at the confluence of the Delaware and Never- sink Rivers, at which the boundary lines of three States-New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey-intersect, is one of the show places of the town. The rock is at the extreme point of the narrow tongue of land lving between the two rivers and at the mouth of the Neversink. The geological formation is rocky and will stand the wear of the floods for centuries to come as it has for centuries past. A small monument now marks the spot.
The site of the old Dutch church on the Van Inwegen land directly opposite the old Machackemech cemetery on Main street is suggestive of historic memories. Here assembled for worship in the old log "meet- ing house" of 1743 the pioneer families of this section. The house was burned by Brandt and his savages in the historic raid of July, 1779.
The Van Etten schoolhouse, from which the teacher, Jeremiah Van Auken, was taken out and cruelly murdered in the same raid, was located
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on the old Levi Van Etten farm, afterwards owned by Mark Van Etten, on the east side of the Neversink River about one-fourth of a mile north of Black Rock cut on the Erie.
'The forts mentioned in the early annals gather about themselves most of the traditions of Indian attack. In the upper neighborhood there was one at the house of Jacob Rutsen De Witt. This was near Cuddebackville, on the west side of the Neversink. Another fort was at the Gumaer place, now the Godeffroy estate. The old stone building is still standing and in excellent preservation.
In the accounts of incidents occurring during the old French War, it is stated that on one occasion the Indians lay in ambush "to take the lower fort at Mr. Westfall's." This was probably the old stone house at Ger- mantown. A local writer says: "The present structure, rebuilt in 1793, occupied the site of a fort or blockhouse built anterior to the Revolution and occupied as a dwelling and trading post by a family of the name of H laynes, who carried on a thriving trade with the Indians for many years. Captain Westfall, who married one of Mr. Haynes's daughters, lived in the house during the Brandt invasion of 1779. He was away on a scouting expedition at the time, and a trusty negro buried the valuables and assisted the escape of the captain's wife to the high hills of the Jersey shore near Carpenter's point.
It is said that Brandt's expedition first attacked "the fort at Major Decker's." This was on the old George Cuddeback place on the east side of the Neversink River, about three miles from Port Jervis. Another fort was near the residence of the late James D. Swartwout. Still an- other is mentioned by Peter E. Gumaer "at the house of Peter Coykendall, int the present village of Port Tervis."
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CHAPTER XVI.
TOWN OF GOSHEN.
BY GEORGE F. GREGG.
N ORTHWEST, sixty mile's by rail from New York City, sixteen miles in an air line west from the Hudson River, lies Goshen, the county seat of Orange County, located in the geographical center of that civic sub-division. The town derives its name from the Goshen of Biblical memory. Almost two centuries ago the first of the settlers came. The native beauty of the place appealed to the calm and dauntless spirits of these men, who had plunged boldly into a benighted and unknown country. They stood upon the wooded hills and looked with glad eyes upon the fertile, fruitful valley. All around about them lay the land of their desire, and they called it Goshen, the "promised land" of the Scrip- tures.
The town, which was first known by this name in 1714, was originally much larger than at present. Its boundaries were defined by law in 1788. A part of Hamptonburgh was taken from it in 1830, and a part of Chester in 1845. Other changes of boundaries were made at different times, as recited elsewhere in this article. It has a population to-day in town and village slightly in excess of 5,000.
The section is known for the great fertility of its soil It is in the heart of a noted dairying country, and as long ago as Revolutionary days Goshen butter was widely famed. Butter making has practically ceased now, but the milk production is large. The town is also noted for the onions and celery raised on its black dirt meadows, as well as for the grass crops grown on its fertile farms.
The village is located on the main line of the Erie Railroad, and has direct connection with New England cities by way of the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. It is also the terminus of the Montgomery & Erie, the Goshen & Deckertown, and the Lehigh & New England Railroads. It is hand- somely laid out with broad, well-kept and well-shaded streets of smooth macadam. It has three public school buildings, and Garr Institute, a parochial school, conducted under the direction of St. John's Church. It
George F. Gregg.
A
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has six churches : The First Presbyterian, organized in 1720; St. James's Episcopal, dating back to 1796; St. John the Evangelist, Roman Catholic, founded in 1820; the Methodist Episcopal, organized in 1847; the A. U. M. P. Church, and Olivet Chapel, a Presbyterian colored mission. It has two national banks and a savings bank, two newspapers, gas and electric lighting companies, a waterworks system, and first-class hotels and clubs. Its fire department is made up of three volunteer companies, Cataract Engine and Hose, organized in 1843: Dikeman Hose, organized in 1872. and Minisink Hook and Ladder, organized in 1906, upon the disbanding of Elliott H. and L, which was organized in 1871. Leading to the vil- lage from almost every direction are improved roads, maintained under State supervision.
No mention of the town, past or present, would be complete, without reference to the trotting-horse industry. It began in 1803, when Imp. Messenger, acknowledged head of the trotting family, stood at Goshen. Down through all the years trotting horses were bred and raised there, and even in this day and generation the horse interests are chief among the interests of the town. In the center of the village is located the finest half-mile track in the country and many famous horses are trained there.
Every foot of its ground is historic. In the far-gone years red men roamed its landscape and predatory beasts lurked in the shadows of its primeval timber lands. It was one of the early settlements made on that vast tract to which Governor Nicolls referred when he wrote in 1664: "The lands which I intend shall be first planted are those upon the west bank of Hudson's River." Shortly after the first settlement a bounty was placed on wolves and the Governor recommended its payment to the House of Lords. Chapter 302 of the laws of 1715, was an act for the destroying of wolves in this section. This act expired July 21, 1717, and on October 29, 1742, the General Assembly found it necessary to pass a law placing a bounty of a shilling and sixpence on "wolves, whelps and panthers."
Noah Webster, of dictionary renown, taught the first academy in Goshen. Dewitt Clinton attended school there, and William H. Seward studied law in the office of Judge Duer. The first newspaper of the county, The Goshen Repository, was published at Goshen in I788, by David Mandeville.
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In the article which follows, the writer has endeavored to furnish a concise history in limited space. As nearly as possible, events are set down in chronological order. Much of interest concerning the town that is based only upon tradition is left out and the space devoted to his- torical facts that can be authenticated and verified by records, maps, parchments and the writings of earlier and wiser men.
The County of Orange dates its existence by legal enactment from October 1, 1691, in the third year of the reign of King William and Queen Mary, and in the administration of Henry Sloughter, Esq., Governor. The First Assembly convened the 9th of April that year. On October I it passed an act, Chapter 17, entitled "An Act to divide the province and dependencies into shires and counties." Section VII of this act pro- vided: "The County of Orange to begin from the limits or bounds of East and West Jersey, on the west side of Hudson's River, along the said river to the Murderer's Creek, or bounds of the County of Ulster ; and westward into the woods as far as the Delaware River."
Chapter 94, which became a law October 18, 1701, added to the lands embraced in the county those of "Wagachemeck and Great and Little Minisinck."
On November 12, 1709, during the administration of Richard In- goldsby, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, the Eighth Assembly passed an act, Chapter, 202, "to determine, settle and ascertain the bounds and limits of the County of Orange." This act repealed the clause added by Chapter 94, and fixed the bounds as follows: "That the County of Orange shall extend from the limits and confines of the Province of New Jersey on the west side of Hudson's River, along the said river to the line of the County of Ulster, and westward so far as the Delaware River."
The county derives its name from the Prince of Orange, who mar- ried Mary, and came to the throne in 1689, under the name of King William.
Goshen is a part of the tract known as the Wawayanda Patent, ac- quired of the red men by John Bridges & Company, on March 5. 1703. and confirmed by royal decree of Queen Anne. Twelve Indian sachems conveyed the land. They were Rapingonick, Wawastawa, Moghopuck. Comelawaw, Nanawitt, Arawinack, Rombout, Claus, Chouckhass, Ching- apaw, Oshasquememus and Quilapaw. The patent was granted April 29. There were twelve patentees, namely, John Bridges, LL.D., Hendrick
ยท
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Tenyck, Derrick Vanderburgh, John Chotwell, Christopher Denn, Lan- caster Syms, Daniel Herran. Philip Rockeby, John Meredith, Benjamin Aske, Peter Matthews, an 1 Christian Christianse. The grant was sup- posed to contain 60,000 acres, but surveys later showed that it contained nearly 160,000. These twelve patentees held the land in common until 1706, when it was divided into twelve parts. Only eight of the original shareholders retained their interests at that time, Bridges having died in 1704. and others having transferred their hol lings.
The tract was unoccupied until 1712, when Christopher Denn made settlement upon it, to be followed shortly by Benjamin Aske; Daniel Cromline, who became a shareholder in 1704; Christian Snedeker, of Long Island: Samuel Staats, who came into record as a thirteenth shareholder in 1713; and John Everett and Samuel Clowes, who in 1714. acquired a tract equal to four of the thirteen shares. The township of Goshen came that year, and the precinct of Goshen, comprising the out- lying settlements came later, and remained until 1788 when the town- ship was expanded to take its place.
In 1712. Christopher Denn, a carpenter by trade and resident of New York City, paid a visit to the patent and determined to make a settlement upon it. He and his wife. Elizabeth, were childless, but had adopted an orphan girl, Sarah Wells.
Denn selected a spot along the Otterkill, as it is now known, about two miles or more from the present village. He returned to New York, equipped an expedition, which he sent up the Hudson River in charge of his adopted daughter, accompanied by two white men and some Indians whom he had taken to New York when returning from his first visit. . 1 raft was used for the voyage and a landing safely made near Cornwall. The journey to the spot selected by Denn was through a trackless forest, but was made without mishap and a rough cabin was built. After the starting of the expedition Denn was remorseful because he sent the girl into unknown dangers, and within a short time he started for the new settlement, with his wife. The journey was made on horseback. They arrived safely and took up permanent residence there.
It appears from an old map that Denn's share of the patent was a triangular tract. containing about 2,000 acres. The presence of this family soon brought other settlers and the woodman's axe resounded far and near. The merciless push of immigration began and the native
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red men were driven further into the wilderness. In the course of a few years Sarah Wells became the wife of William Bull, of Wolverhampton, England, who came to this country and was employed by Daniel Croni- line in 1716 to build the masonry of a dwelling, later known to fame for nearly a century as the Greycourt House. History records this as the first marriage within the limits of the town of Goshen.
The lands in the vicinity of the present village were settled to some extent soon after Denn's arrival. There were on record deeds showing the conveyance of lots in the village in 1714. On July 10, 1721, a deed in trust was made to John Yelverton by John Everett, Jolin Carpenter, John Gale, William Ludlum, Nathaniel Higby, John Carpenter, Jr., G. McNish, James Sandys, Thomas Watson, Hope Rodes, John Holly, James Jackson, Isaac Finch, Solomon Carpenter, John Beers, Michael Dunning, Samuel Seely, John Nichols, William Jackson, Alexander Moore, John Knapp, Samuel Webb, John Alsop and Richard Halsted, setting forth that a conveyance had been "lately" made to John Everett and Samuel Clowes, giving them one-sixth part of all the lands for the purpose of laying out a township, establishing a church and settling a minister.
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